It's been a while since my last rant, so I figured I'd revisit customer service after having yet another bad experience.

Once again, I am stunned (though I probably shouldn't be) by the level of ineptitude large businesses exhibit with respect to their customer service paradigm- and then pat themselves on the back for claiming to have such an amazing customer service regime! Or integrate it into their business slogan! I guess I shouldn't be surprised, as I myself, work in customer service, where often times, numbers supporting this claim of excellence have no meaning, or are so far removed from context, they could barely be called accurate. When I have to put in a call to customer service, I could certainly use a little less touchy-feely experience, an a lot more "knowing what the hell to do (and having the power to do something) when someone calls with a legitimate customer service problem."

Yes, friends, the USPS has decided not to deliver a package that I had shipped from California. Nobody can tell me why this is the case, other than. "hmm. that's really strange. I don't know why that would happen." I tried using technology to intercept and stop the package from being returned to California (I live in New York) but much like the car wheel you'd find on a baby's carseat, the lump of technology used by the USPS seems to just exist for their or my enjoyment, and doesn't actually connect to the controls of the car you're seated in.

I'm unable to get their system to redirect the package because of reasons.

The USPS customer service agent I waited on hold 28 minutes for is unable to get their system to redirect the package because of reasons.

My item is 1/4 of a mile away from where I am physically writing this from, and I can't even walk over and get it. It will be flying, or driving back to California in the morning.

It's a good thing I'm not in major need of the contents of this package. And because of that, I'm actually MORE angry about the unbelievable waste of resources involved in having a box shipped across the country 3 times for NO reason whatsoever other than probable incompetence and zero ability for people or entities smarter than the system to override the system. I wrote a letter to USPS customer service explaining each stage of fail in their system as observed by someone outside their system, and honestly, I'm not sure why I even bothered. The customer service paradigm for all these larger than life agencies and businesses have been the empty promise of "We're here when you need us, until you need us." I already know that was a waste of time. Everybody I talk to tells me so too. How bad are things when even uninvolved people tell you that you've wasted your time trying to resolve an issue you paid money for to not have in the first place; that customer service is such a joke- it's become the accepted norm for people to not take it seriously.

I contacted the shipper in the laughable hope that as a business selecting USPS over the other carriers would give them some kind of secret access into the system; thus resolving all of my problems.

Nope.

In fact, they claimed that this happens so frequently that their only recourse is to send the package via UPS.

I've been through a similar thing with FedEx. They would only deliver a large shipment of heavy items to my residence during hours that I'm at work, despite my constant attempt at trying to get them to reschedule, citing that UPS offered evening delivery for the 70% of the population that worked 9-5. I ultimately ended up renting a van on my own dime to drive to the FedEx warehouse and pick them up in person so that they wouldn't be shipped back to Canada.

There also doesn't seem to be much of a customer loyalty incentive with most companies any more. Especially the telecom industry.

I've been a TWC internet only customer for the last 7 years. This is largely due to lack of options. Every year save one where I got a small discount, my bill increases. Occasionally, I get a boost in bandwidth but usually not enough to justify the rate increase. Meanwhile, I witness the unending slugfest between telecom competitors offering INSANE discounts to new customers. Some are even paying the cancellation fees of their competitors. Is that why I'm not getting a discount? Is the increased charge for my service is being used to pay the early termination fees for Joe Schmoe when he changes providers every year or two?

Or do they know my lack of options means they've got me in a position where I have no bargaining power.

I think they really don't know or don't particularly care, as I get harassed by customer service every couple of months to buy their triple play garbage. I remind them that there is no incentive for me to do so when you think about it logically, and that's usually about as far as the call gets, except for the last one where the agent tried to fear-monger me into buying digital phone service by playing at a September 11th style scenario that would really leave me screwed if I didn't have digital home phone service. I wish I'd been recording that call..

In fact, the customer service paradigm (especially in the telecom market) has become so laughable to me that whenever someone tells me they've selected Company A because "Their customer service is top-notch" I actually start to gag a little. I think the overall lack of incentive certain business exhibit for loyal customers, causes my attitude tends to shift in the opposite direction with respect to loyalty. My new philosophy is: "If I need to call customer service, EVER, I'm already shopping for a new company to do business with." My reasoning for this is: if you're relying on your customer service department to stay in business, you probably should be out of it, because the best company is the one you never have to call.﻿

I run a small online business; not huge, but it kept me going between jobs. That means I rely heavily on postal delivery. Most times no issue, but occasionally, they screw up and I end up carrying the can. When this happens, I send out the same items again, (free of charge) plus I also pay for the P & P; this is to ensure that the customer gets what they paid for.

Fortunately, the markup is sufficient that I can afford to do this, but it does still hurt. However, it's to try and ensure that the customers come back to me in the future, simply because they will know that they will get good service and a great product at an acceptable price.

Remember the post about drug testing at work in States where pot was legal? And I pointed out the customer service rep for Dish that got fired. And I pointed out that I thought all customer service reps were on dope? I rest my case. And yeah, a few f bombs, or at least a capital F here and there would have got your rant score up (just for future reference).

"Yes, friends, the USPS has decided not to deliver a package that I had shipped from California. Nobody can tell me why this is the case, other than. "hmm. that's really strange. I don't know why that would happen." I tried using technology to intercept and stop the package from being returned to California (I live in New York) but much like the car wheel you'd find on a baby's carseat, the lump of technology used by the USPS seems to just exist for their or my enjoyment, and doesn't actually connect to the controls of the car you're seated in."

You had me at USPS....

I can't even keep count the number of times USPS failed at their only job...

As someone who has watched helplessly as my most recent DHI package was "handed off to USPS" in a town that don't live in with the promise that it would be delivered yesterday and who is still waiting on said package with little hope of tracking it as both DHI and USPS say the tracking number is no longer valid, I am getting a kick out of this thread.

USPS!!!! What a joke! I have had similar experiences with USPS. They just flat out are unable to deliver a package to my house. They have lost packages, delivered them to the wrong address, sent it back to sender, destroyed packages. The only thing they seem to be able to do consistently besides disappoint me, is to deliver an onslaught of ads and junk mail to my mailbox. If it is a piece of mail I'm actually looking for, its gonna be days late if I get it at all.

Yeah, I never ship USPS if I can help it. I usually have better luck with FedEx/UPS but even then you run into hiccups but at least it is usually less than with USPS. As for USPS customer services I am pretty sure their queue for these complaints looks like this:

"the lump of technology used by the USPS seems to just exist for their or my enjoyment, and doesn't actually connect to the controls of the car you're seated in."

You had me at USPS....

I can't even keep count the number of times USPS failed at their only job...

﻿﻿I give your rant a 9/10

Actually it is a fairly complex system.

James Cochrane, who until a few weeks ago was the USPS CIO and who now serves as the USPS chief marketing officer, argues that digitization can and will make the difference. First of all, the USPS is embedded in every neighborhood throughout the U.S. in a way that no one else comes close to. It commands a 617,000-person workforce and runs the largest civilian vehicle fleet in the world (more than 211,000 vehicles).

From Cochrane’s perspective, nothing can match that. USPS IT operations has a 38-petabyte database, managed by 3,000 different systems, 300,000 mobile devices — all of which are used to track more than 1.5 billion events every day. Not to mention protecting Santa Clause from the legal system.﻿